Sunday, April 29, 2018

Breaking News: "Caravans" Trying to Cross U.S. Borders

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'Caravan' migrants weigh staying in Mexico or risking US expulsion

TIJUANA, Mexico, April 29 (Reuters) - Hondurans, Guatemalans and
Salvadorans who drew the wrath of President Donald Trump in a month-long
caravan to the U.S. border will make hard decisions on Sunday whether
to risk being deported all the way home by trying to cross, or to build a
life in Mexico.

After
angry tweets from Trump, U.S. border authorities said some people
associated with the caravan had been caught trying to slip through the
fence, and encouraged the rest to hand themselves in to authorities.

"We
are a very welcoming country but just like your own house, we expect
everyone to enter through our front door, and answer questions
honestly," San Diego Chief Patrol Agent Rodney S. Scott said in a
statement.

Most of the group of about 400
travelers who arrived in border city Tijuana on buses over the past
couple of days said they intended to legally seek asylum in San Diego
later on Sunday, but lawyers advising the group gave them stark advice -
not everyone will be successful.

After the
grueling journey, a somber mood took hold as the reality sank in that
many of them would be separated from their families. Lovers and parents
with slightly older sons and daughters could be forced to split up.

At
venues around the city, U.S. immigration lawyers working on a pro bono
basis on Saturday listened to harrowing tales of life in the immigrants'
home countries.

Death threats from local
gangs, the murder of family members, retaliatory rape, and political
persecution back home prompted them to flee, the migrants and lawyers
say.

Many of the immigrants who spoke at
length with Reuters at various points during their trip through Mexico
had been short on knowledge of their legal rights, but at least 24
recounted detailed stories of facing death threats.

As
poor migrants from Central America on a perilous route through Mexico,
they feared they could be robbed, raped, arrested and assaulted, so
traveling by caravan offered their only protection, they said.

The
lawyers advised which cases had higher chances of passing the "credible
fear" test required to enter the long and often difficult U.S. asylum
process, said immigrant rights organization Al Otro Lado, Spanish for On
the Other Side.

"A lot will depend on how
well they can articulate their case," said one of the pro bono lawyers,
who preferred to remain anonymous.

The rest
were advised to stay put in Mexico, which would remove the risk that
U.S. authorities fly them the more than 2,000 miles (3,600 km) back
home.

"We'll wait and see," said Bryan
Garcia, from Honduras, seated beside a four-year-old Nicole, who was
eating a strawberry biscuit as they waited for her mother to come out of
a meeting with a lawyer.

Nicole and her
mother are from El Salvador. They befriended Garcia along the caravan's
journey and the adults had fallen for each other.

But Garcia would not be asking for asylum- he would stay in Tijuana, having already been deported once from the U.S.

"We'll just have to try to stay connected," he said as Nicole paused from eating her biscuit and blinked up at him.

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